PETA demands more action in light of controversy surrounding Churchill Downs

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Spring meet races at Churchill Downs are set to move to Ellis Park on Wednesday.
It comes after a dozen horse deaths at the Louisville track, in the past month.

“I don’t think that anybody should support horse racing as long as horses are dying,” says Kathy Guillermo, senior vice president of PETA.

With the horse racing industry in the middle of controversy, Churchill Downs announced it’s moving the rest of the spring meets to Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky.
A move that comes after 12 race horse deaths, following injuries sustained at the track.

“PETA thinks that the horse racing industry should look at its own research, which shows is that 90% of horses who suffer broken bones on the track had a preexisting injury at the site of that
bone break. And most of that comes from lack of recovery time for horses who are injured and then it’s masked with medication. So the first step is to get rid of all the drugs,” adds Guillermo.

Those with PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) say the horse racing industry needs to re-evaluate practices in how the sport and the treatment towards animals is being handled.

“People who are interested in horse racing, the first thing to do is not go until the horses aren’t dying. It’s really crucial that we not support an industry that’s killing its own athletes and they can talk about how unsafe or how safe the track might be. But we know that there are often many issues and most importantly, the masking effect of medications that leads to these broken bones. So the racing industry needs to stop pretending that it has no idea what’s going on,” also says Guillermo.

PETA says because the horses race at a young age, by the time they start to mature they’re already suffering from long term disabilities.

Guillermo also says, “a lot is being asked of these very young horses whose bones haven’t even developed and the horses PETA has rescued. What we have seen is that when they’re five or six years old, just as they’re becoming physically mature, they have arthritis.”

Ellis Park traditionally hosts a summer race meet in Kentucky that is scheduled from July 7 to August 27, 2023. The new safety initiatives announced by Churchill Downs earlier this week will remain in effect for the remainder of this meet at Ellis Park.